Blood Runs Deep
by The Gilgamesh Countess
Summary: My look on how things would be if Trisha never died and the boys grew up under her care. Elricest in the future. Nothing bad for now, but rated for future doings.
1. Chapter 1

-1Ummm me writing stuff, yeah horrible I know. Elricest, in the future maybe. You have been warned.

Once upon a time, there lived two little boys . One named Edwsrd and the other Alphonse.

They played all day long with their best friend Winry Rockbell, while their mother watched them and smiled knowing that her two children were happy and healthy. Still, even if on the outside she acted happy and appeared strong for her two boys, the fact that her husband had disappeared was still worrying her.

She loved this man named Hoenheim so much, she cried herself to sleep every night when her two children weren't looking. Sometimes she even zoned out and wondered what he was doing, and why he left.

As strong and as bright as she may have seemed, Trisha Elric was still unable to fool Edward and Alphonse. They sometimes heard their mother sobbing in the middle of the night, even though she tried her best to keep quiet. That's when the plotting began.

"Al, you know it's been almost a month that she's been doing this. It's all **his** fault too, I can't believe him for what he's doing to mom.

"Brother, I'm as upset as you are about mom and dad, but what can we do? It's not like we can go and find him, we're only just kids still."

"Yeah, but I was thinking. You remember that lady that stopped the floods yesterday right?"

"Oh yeah, the one that was really good at alchemy! I remember her!"

"Well, maybe she could teach us and train us to make us even better at alchemy."

"But, Ed we already know alchemy. Why do you wanna learn any more?"

"Listen, as much as I hate it, the only way mom will ever be happy again is if he comes back. So if that lady will teach us alchemy then maybe, just maybe we can find dad and bring him back. It's not healthy for mom to be this sad."

"Well, okay then! It's a plan!"

"Good, tomorrow morning we'll go see her before she leaves, and ask her, no we'll make her teach us what she knows."

Right. Goodnight Ed, I love you.

Both boys turned over in their beds, hardly able to sleep and immensely anxious about seeing the great alchemist in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

-1Chapter two, I hope it's at least decent.

After the two young boys finally did fall asleep, their minds were filled with images of their mother laughing like she used to, and everything would be back to normal when they found their father.

Trisha Elric, walked into Ed and Al's bedroom. Smiling as she watched their quiet, peaceful faces. A few stray rays of sunlight shining onto their beds.

"Edward, Alphonse, it's time to get up, breakfast is ready."

The elder brother didn't move an inch but the younger blinked his eyes and sat up.

"Well good morning, sleepyhead"

"Hmmm oh hi mom"

Alphonse blinked his eyes a few times, looked at the window and his eyes went wide as he jumped out of bed and hurried over to his brother's bedside, shaking him.

"Ed, we're late! Hurry and get up!"

Ed groaned a little and turned the other way.

Al, school doesn't start again 'til tomorrow, stop bothering me.

"Ed, she's gonna leave!"

Those words must've made something in Edward's head click. Because as soon as his brother spoke the last word of his sentence, he jumped up grabbed Al and ran past his mother to the front door.

Al would've stopped by now, since both of them had pajamas on with no shoes and had horrible bed hair. He knew the importance of this though, he was wishing hard that they weren't late.

"All right here we come! Ready Al?"

By now they had reached the hospital that the great alchemist was hopefully still recovering at. They had stopped at the entrance, to acknowledge what they were about to get themselves into.

"I've never been more ready in my entire life, brother."

"Good, let's go then."

They both walked into the room, it was small not a lot of space and not very fancy. Then again, there aren't too many major deathly accidents in a small village like Resembool. They looked around to see that some people were paying their respects to the alchemist, but she was still lying in bed and didn't look very healthy. They nervously walked in between the small crowd of people to her side. Edward spoke first.

"You're the lady that stopped the flood the other day using alchemy right?"

"Yes I am. Did you need something?"

It's almost as if for that one moment they could either read each others minds. They dropped on their knees and clapped their hands together as if they were praying. Looking as cute as a 9 and a 10 year old could.

"Please teach us what you know about alchemy!"

"What? Oh I get it, you've seen state alchemists before and you want to be like them. You brats don't know the first thing about alchemy."

It was Al's turn this time to retaliate, as he gave a hard determined look to her.

"No that's not it. We're not trying to become state alchemists, we wanna learn alchemy to help someone important to us."

"Edward looked at Al a little shocked that his usually shy brother came out and said something like that, but still backed him up."

"Yeah, and we're not leaving until you agree to teach us. I mean you are getting old and stuff so don't you want someone to know your secrets?"

Saying that only got Ed a sharp smack across the cheek. The woman now stood up straight, and even though her husband looked slightly worried, he received a nod from her letting him know she was okay. She didn't seem intimidating until now and both Elric boys cowered back into a corner, the once large crowd now dissipated and had left.

"You listen here, for one thing I am **not** old. For another thing,

This time she looked at Al and her eyes softened.

I'm sorry, but I'm not taking any apprentices."

Edward gathered together some courage and once again spoke his mind.

"The real reason we wanna know alchemy is that, our dad left a while ago, and ever since then our mom has been crying constantly. So we just wanted to know if you'd teach us something so that we'd be strong enough to find him for her."

"So this is why you two ran off so suddenly."

Trisha Elric stood in the doorway, listening to the entire conversation.

"Mom!"

"So these are your two boys?"

"Yes they are, and I'm very sorry if they've bothered you at all. Come on boys let's go home."

Al gave Izumi one last pitiful look and then followed his mother home.

_I can't believe we blew it this bad, I knew I should've backed Al up more, if only I would've got up earlier, now everything's ruined._

Both of their heads hung low as they followed their mother home with shame in their eyes. They didn't even wave back when they saw their best friend Winry Rockbell wave to them.

"Hey guys! Wanna come over and play?"

The brothers didn't speak a word, but only held their heads even lower than before. Their mother decided to speak for them.

"Maybe later on Winry, they're busy right now."

"Oh okay then, well I'll see you then!"

When all three arrived home, Trisha sat down on a chair and motioned for them to do the same.

"Now I understand that, it's been hard for you two since your father left, but the last thing you need to do is worry about me. I may not seem like it always, but I really am fine. I'm not going to punish you for this, since you were only trying to do the right thing, but I will, however, ask you to go back and apologize to that woman."

"Yes mother" They said in unison.

The both of them got up and headed for the door but when they opened it, there was Izumi standing at the entrance.

Cliffhanger? No not really. Two chaps in 1 day, well kinda one day since I posted the other one late last night. Anyway, thankies to all who read it. Anime is love y'all peace out.


	3. Chapter 3

-1_I figure this is pretty Alternate Universe-ish. It's been a little while since I watched the anime so I've forgotten some of the smaller details of it, especially in the beginning episodes. I'm also wondering if it's supposed to be deep or deeply. I think I'll be adding a new character soon. Sorry it's been a long time since I gave a chapter. For some reason I just got caught up and forgot about it. I've sort of been on a writing streak lately though._

"May I speak with your mother?" Izumi asked rather curtly. The woman standing at their doorway didn't look like she was in a particularly good mood at the moment

Ed opened his mouth hesitantly and began to speak but he was soon cut off by a jerk to his shirt sleeve. Trisha pulled both boys lightly but firmly aside.

"Truly sorry about their silent spell. I had just sent them on their way to make amends for what happened earlier. I hope they didn't disturb you at all." Trisha gave her a look up and down. There were still some bandages around her head and she looked a little exasperated but she didn't look altogether bad after what had happened to her.

"That's the reason I came here. I wanted to talk to you about something. Can I come in?"

"Of course, I didn't mean to be so rude." Trisha quickly moved out of the way and shut the door behind the other woman when she was inside. Her intuition told her that this should most likely be a private conversation between two adults.

"Edward, Alphonse. Please go to your room while we talk."

"But mom!" They both exclaimed. Trisha sent a hard stare and in a few moments they were stomping off with the door slammed shut behind them.

Trisha breathed an almost silent sigh and turned to Izumi. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

Izumi nodded. "I'll try and keep this as brief as I can."

"Can you hear anything Ed?" Al questioned intently, ear pressed against the door.

"No," he whispered back. "Try to keep your voice down!"

"Sorry," Al mumbled with a frown. His older brother took charge a lot and scolded Al on various occasions, Al hated when that happened. He respected Edward a lot, admired him a little and every once in a while he felt something he couldn't exactly explain to himself. So when Ed chastised him, Al felt like he should be trying harder.

Ed was becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of sound coming from the outside. However, he didn't mean to take his temper out on his brother. Seeing the crestfallen look on Al's face made a little guilt creep over him.

"Uh, sorry Al. You really weren't talking that loud. I just wish we could hear something."

Al smiled a little. "It's okay Ed, I-"

"Al, shut up! I think I can hear something."

Al began listening, an inward smile formed. He knew Ed never meant it.

"I appreciate your offering, Miss Izumi, but I'd have to say no. They're just so young."

"I understand. I just thought you'd want to know. I'll be leaving for home around mid-morning tomorrow. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

They both headed for the door.

"I hope you recover fully from your injuries, and have a good evening."

Izumi nodded and left silently. Trisha took a deep breath and sat down at the kitchen table. The entire day had been just the slightest bit too stressful for her, and just as she was about to get some rest, another hill presented itself.

Edward and Alphonse had only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but the parts that they caught gave them the main idea. Almost as soon as they heard the light thump of the front door, they came bursting out of their bedroom and rushing over to their mother, both talking over the other.

"Mom, mom, when do we leave?" Ed yelled, his words coming out so fast they were almost impossible to understand.

"Yeah, should we go pack our stuff?" Al added.

Trisha was overwhelmed at their vocal barrage, it took her a few seconds to process what they were talking about. When she figured it out she was frustrated, partially because she had no intention of even telling them about the female alchemist's proposition, and partially because their excitement was bringing a headache for her.

"Alright, alright!" Her voice wasn't angry but it was elevated and both boys were immediately hushed.

When she regained her usual calm disposition.

"I see that the two of you were listening, when you shouldn't have been." She eyed both of them. "But I told her that you wouldn't be going, right now, you two are too young to be doing such things by yourself."

Al took it lightly, his face twisted with hopelessness. For a moment Ed looked the same but he soon grew angry.

"Mom, how can you be so selfish! Me and Al work hard all the time to help you. Now we want one little thing, and you, you. YOU ACT LIKE A SELFISH WITCH AND KEEP US FROM BEING HAPPY!"

By now there were reluctant tears running down his face. His resentment was clear, and he looked upward, almost frightened to see her response. He was greeted by his mother's hand as it flew across his face. Ed was knocked back on his feet and Al stared, wide-eyed with his hands covering his mouth.

Trisha took a painful glance at her oldest, disoriented son and buried her face in her hand, sobbing loudly.

Al was abashed by the entire situation, but he finally took a move toward his brother first, to make sure he was alright (And at this point, his legs felt like spaghetti noodles). There was a large red mark on his face covered by tear streaks but he looked more confused then hurt. Moving on, Al cautiously approached his mother (Whose sobbing had went down from hysterical to the occasional hiccup).

"Mom?" He whispered. "Mom, are you okay?"

Trisha removed her hands and she tried her best to show a smile. She knew how sensitive her youngest son could be.

"I-I'm fine. I overreacted. Edward, I."

"J-just be quiet! I hate you!" It didn't take long for him to collect himself. In less than a moment's notice he was out the front door, unaffected by his mothers shouts.

"I'm sure he just went to Winry's house," Al said quickly, wanting to reassure his mother. He was always shaken up when he heard his mother cry."

"Yes, I'm sure you're right, honey. I think you should go there too. I need a little time for myself.

Al silently nodded and with one last, concerned look, he timidly left his mother.


End file.
